Barb Brents -- UNLV Sociology Faculty

Nuclear Waste Storage Feasibility

Scientific testing has found that elements from nuclear fallout have traveled 800 feet underground to the proposed repository horizon during the past 50 years and that groundwater moves off the site within a few dozen to few hundred years, far faster than the minimum 1,000 year time frame set in current regulations. These problems show that it would be very difficult, if not impossible, for the site to meet existing laws, scientific and technical criteria, and human health standards for groundwater or radiation protection. The “fix” for this dilemma has been to change or eliminate the regulations to accommodate the deficiencies of the site.

The nation’s high-level waste repository is supposed to safely dispose of 77,000 tons of deadly radioactive waste (currently 11 billion curies, compared with the 80 to 100 million curies released from the Chernobyl nuclear plant that killed thousands of people and contaminated many parts of Europe). The current design concept for Yucca Mountain is almost entirely reliant upon manmade, “engineered barriers” (such as the waste containers) because the mountain itself will not contain the waste. This design further demonstrates the site’s problems and is contrary to the fundamental premise of federal law that the site alone provide primary natural waste isolation.

By the Department of Energy’s own analysis, 150-400 accidents are expected over the 20-30 year period of shipping. In the case of a serious accident from the projected 50,000 or more shipments, dozens of people could die immediately, others could be seriously injured, and cleanup would cost tens of billions of dollars and take months or years to complete. This does not include the millions to billions of dollars lost to the local economy from the stigma of being contaminated.

Irradiated fuel from a nuclear power plant is the deadliest material humans have yet to produce. Even it has cooled for ten years a person standing a few feet away would get a lethal dose in 3 minutes.

Governor Kenny Guinn's statement

It appears that the Department of Energy is the only entity familiar with the facts at Yucca Mountain that does not see your decision as premature. As you know, your own contractor Bechtel/SAIC, as well as the General Accounting Office, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste, the Yucca Mountain Technical Review Board, the National Academy of Sciences, and, recently, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the OECD’s Nuclear Energy Agency, have each concluded that significant additional studies need to be performed before DOE can seriously consider whether to recommend the Yucca Mountain site for permanent nuclear waste disposal. For example, NRC has indicated that at least 292 major studies remain to be completed in 19 key areas, including corrosion of the waste packages, potential effects of volcanic activity, rapid groundwater flow rates through the mountain, large uncertainties in predicted repository performance, even the very design of the repository itself.

For more information:

Government and Scientific Reports

Advocacy and info Yucca Mountain sites